Paul Lovatt-Smith

Ashdown Forest Poultry Club is based around Heathfield, the traditional heartland for centuries of rearing chickens for the London market, and the club is the official club for East Sussex. It runs 2 poultry shows a year and holds regular meetings on a wide range of poultry topics, at the…

Firstly, All new members are more than welcome, either contact us or come along to a meeting. We are a friendly support group aiming to network, help and encourage productive smallholding on any scale. Based in West Sussex, we meet on the last Wednesday of every month at the Brinsbury…

link to website We were formed in 1987 by Hadlow College, to whom we are affiliated. We are privileged to hold our monthly meetings at the college with like minded people, who enjoy the countryside and the rural way of life, which is our only criteria for membership. Members meet…

LandBase seeks to provide opportunities to those wishing to involve themselves in land based activities on a range of levels, and to close the gap between the growing interest in rural living and skills, and the lack of structured learning facilities for new entrants to small-scale food production in the…

SEHLS runs training courses in Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire where you can learn to lay hedges with the experts:SEHLS Home Page

There are several farm businesses in the local area and also further afield, which run their own courses . These include pig-keeping and lambing.  Often these can be very useful and well-run.  SFTG can’t recommend individual courses in this category but you are welcome to do your own research.

The Weald and Downland Museum is at Singleton, 7 miles north of Chichester and offers a variety of short courses throughout the year which may be of interest to members.  Here is the link to their course page:Weald and Downland Museum CoursesThe courses are concerned with the preservation of buildings of architectural…